


you're still my favorite boy

by diurno



Series: bury me at make out creek [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: :P, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Family Dynamics, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Jealousy, Lee Jeno is Whipped, M/M, Na Jaemin is Whipped, Nail Polish, Neck Kissing, Poetry, Scents & Smells, Twilight References, Vampires, a bit of, a small fight scene, as always, as expected, hehe i missed prose, hinted johnjae, jaemin is so baby, just vampireling tingz, nothing a Lot tbh nana has some self steem issues but theyre very light, thats.. a tag.., yasss digging into the coven a little bit more
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 14:57:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19153333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diurno/pseuds/diurno
Summary: "What if your vampire relatives find us, though?" Jeno asks in laughter as Jaemin kisses down his neck. "Would they get angry at me for touching their baby?"His voice is muffled by Jeno's skin when he answers. "Most definitely," the human shivers at the graze of fangs on his skin. "But I was your baby before I was theirs, wasn't I?"Or: Jeno is not jealous of Jaemin's new vampire bodyguard slash mentor, Jaehyun. He's really not.





	you're still my favorite boy

**Author's Note:**

> ah shit here we go again

**JENO** : I'll take care of you.

 **JAEMIN** : It's rotten work.

 **JENO** : Not to me. Not if it's you.

  


The Coven is really protective. Jeno has no problems with that.

Contrary to popular astrological belief, he's not a jealous person. Not really. Jaemin is insanely nice, everyone loves him, it's okay. Jeno thinks it's okay.

Which doesn't make any sense to his current situation: moping around in the Coven's entrance as a tall, purple haired man walks Jaemin down the stairs with a gentle hand on the small of his back, looking all bits taller than Jeno's boyfriend in a way that's - unfortunately - aesthetically pleasing.

The moment passes slowly, cruelly, a torture if you will. Jeno is half shocked, half angry - this man is _so_ handsome. And he's so handsy in the way he helps Jeno's boyfriend down the stairs, fingers brushing the hem of Jaemin's (Jeno's) beaten down hockey t-shirt.

It feels like it's been an eternity once Jaemin approaches him with his huge grin, eyes sparkling, immediately pecking Jeno's cheek like he usually does when he's happy. The man respectfully waits behind him, hands behind his back; his hair reflects the moon, and Jeno can't even make out the pores in his face. He looks like a wax doll of a guardian.

"Baby, this is Jung Jaehyun," Jaemin smiles his megawatt smile, grabbing the human's hand discreetly. "He's a foreigner! Came all the way from France! _So_ cool!"

The man is _European_. Jeno feels his jealousy fall short; that's not a threat. If anything, knowing Jaemin like he does, his boyfriend must have made at least ten dumb questions about France already. Jung Jaehyun is probably a saint for being this patient still.

"Pleasure to meet you, Jeno," Jaehyun extends his hand with a soft looking smile, the fangs peeking out of it almost an obsidian black. They look hypnotizing, entrancing - Jeno is almost pulled in by them like an easy prey, but the older vampire closes his mouth, snapping him out of it with an almost scowl.

"Uh, hi," the human shakes his cold hand, the hairs on his arm going up one by one, like bodies being pulled from the dirt. Jaehyun's hand is firm, delicate; pianist fingers just like Jaemin's.

 _Pianist._ What a vampire sounding word, now. Jeno's life has been sucked into the vampire world (Society? Cult?) very quickly.

"I heard a lot about you," the older vampire's face falls into a friendly looking one, features easing out. " _Someone_ really loves his boyfriend," he gives Jaemin a pointed look, managing to look kind even then. Jeno's boyfriend giggles, squeezing his hand.

"Oh, I apologize for everything Jaemin has said about me; whatever it is, it's not true," Jeno muses, staring at Jaemin's smiling lips with a weird feeling in the back of his chest. It's like his heart went white noise on him - Jaemin smiles and it's easy to forget he has a body. Jaemin smiles and everything goes limp.

"He said you're, and I quote, 's _quishy_ ' at least a thousand times," Jaehyun smiles at them, blinking ever so quietly. His fangs seem dangerous even from afar; so tempting Jeno could just put his finger on it and let the blood drip out.

Jeno blinks at him, taking a second too long to answer. "That's my nickname."

The older vampire snorts. Jaemin's smile gets impossible wider.

His face is going to split in half one day from how big he smiles. Jaemin doesn't spare anyone from his happiness - even when things aren't that big, aren't that good, he still manages to grin like he just won the lottery.

That's where he and Jeno match, he guesses. Jeno will laugh at anything, and Jaemin will smile in the face of Hell for whatever is worth.

"I've noticed, yes," the purple haired vampire humors him slightly, grooming himself to go back into the Coven's house. "Well, it was nice to meet you, Jeno. Duty calls." Then he turns at Jaemin, and his gaze turns softer. _Same_ , Jeno thinks. "Don't get lost in the dark, baby vampire. Call me if you need anything. Be careful."

And with a pat to Jaemin's shoulder, he's gone.

Jeno watches as Jaehyun's figure disappears into the big house, averting his eyes to look at Jaemin once they're alone in the entrance. It's dark, probably half past seven or so, and shallow rain grazes their heads while the wind coldly blows through Seoul. Jaemin locks their arms together without much thought to it, happily opening his umbrella over their heads and leading Jeno to the street. It's a busy one. Cars and people pile up in the sound they make, chit chats and motors humming to their ears as they make their way to the parking lot where Jeno left his car.

"What did you think of him?" Jaemin asks after they managed to jump a puddle together, his long coat crazing the back of Jeno's legs.

"Jaehyun?" he asks, and the vampire nods. "He's nice."

"Yeah, I know," his boyfriend smiles, getting even closer to Jeno. "He's going to look out for me now. Kinda like a mentor. Or a bodyguard. Renjun doesn't like him one bit."

"Why?" the human frowns, leading Jaemin to his car.

"No idea. I think he feels threatened…" Jaemin explains it with big hand gestures, immersed. "Like, Jaehyun is _so_ strong. Renjun is used to be the strongest in South Korea but now Jaehyun is here and he's going to stay for a few months, so they kind of… share the title…"

Jeno snorts. "This sounds so much like some movie bullshit."

"I know," the vampire laughs, playing with Jeno's belt distractedly while they wait for the car. He looks tired, and snoozes off the moment he hits the passenger seat, head dangling and eyelids fluttering.

One of the things that haven't changed is that Jaemin still manages to sleep anytime, any place. And Jeno still doesn't have the heart to wake him up; even if it means carrying him on his back for a few flights of stairs.

  
  
  


"Hey," Jaemin calls from the bathroom, the door left open and light creeping up the bedroom walls like it's blowing bubbles of brightness right to Jeno's half closed eyes. "Have you noticed if I got any paler? Like, during transition?"

Without looking at him, Jeno can tell he's inspecting his face in the mirror, nose almost glued to the superficie. It's something he notices Jaemin doing quite a lot, lately - picking at his appearance, staring at it like he's a foreigner to the swell of his cheeks and the deep, deep oceans sitting in the corner of his eyes. Jeno tries to not worry about it too much, but it's hard when he knows Jaemin could get transition blues at any given moment, having been on it for at least four months now.

It's a bit silly of him, too. Jaemin's face is a map of the moon, to Jeno, with craters and lakes and terribly long lashes that oftenly feel like being hypnotized once you look too closely. There's absolutely _nothing_ wrong with the way his face looks - actually, when they met, Jeno thought it was kind of creepy how Jaemin's face was so perfect; like a doll - and still, the vampire couldn't stop spending hours staring at it on the mirror, accusingly so.

"No," Jeno shouts back, rubbing his feet together because of the cold. The spot Jaemin left beside him is still wrinkled, buzzing with that weird, cold livelihood he always has around him. It's weird, how someone can be so alive despite being a vampire. Jeno wonders how he manages. "Your skin only got kind of…. Blurry? I don't know. You're still tanned but there's something about it that doesn't fit with the rest of you. Like… Sometimes I can see your veins,"

"You do?" his head pops out of the bathroom, hair falling to his eyes and lips frowned downwards in thought. "That's kind of sexy, though?"

The human groans, hands itching to throw a pillow on his face as Jaemin's lips stretch into his usual Cheshire cat smile. That's also something he's self conscious about, these days - his fangs aren't really that visible, just a little sharper and longer than a normal human's, but he refuses to eat in public now. If he does so, he'll hide his teeth inside his gums, even though Jeno knows it hurts when they get retreated.

"Shut up," he mumbles, adjusting his glasses as he taps away on his notebook. It's a cold friday night, chilly wind hitting his naked ankles almost cruelly, storming inside their apartment. Jeno's currently waiting for Jaemin to come back so they can proceed on watching a movie, but the vampire seems quite busy. "You're literally the only person that thinks being undead is sexy."

"Absolutely not true," his boyfriend chirps back happily, almost in a singsong voice. _Annoying._ "I can quote to you at least a handful of fanfiction about vampires wrote for and about fangbangers. I mean, Twilight-"

"Fang _what?"_ Jeno screeches, glaring at Jaemin even though the vampire's upper body is the only thing he can see through the bathroom door.

He smiles again. "Fangbanger," Jaemin steps out of the bathroom with a shit eating grin, oversized white shirt and basketball shorts making him look ridiculously small and inoffensive. "It's the term for people like _you,_ squishy."

"I'm not a fangbanger!" the human gasps offendedly, watching in horror as Jaemin makes his way to the bed, gluing himself to Jeno's side with a smile on his face. He locks their arms together, and Jaemin's skin is so… Cold. Like touching glass, like having ice on your hand and feeling your palm burning. And still, Jeno comes closer. It's a shame he's not actually up in flames right now.

"You are currently _banging_ a _fang,_ so…" he hugs Jeno's arm to himself, trapping it between his upper arms and thighs, which would be really annoying if it were anyone else… But it isn't. Since it's Jaemin, Jeno allows it. "I think I don't have to say anything else to prove my point, do I?"

"Please don't refer to our relationship as me 'banging' a 'fang' ever again, please," Jeno groans once again, using his free hand to browse on his computer.

Jaemin convinced him to watch Twilight. Again.

For the third night in a row.

And Jeno agreed to it. Also for the third night in a row.

What even _is_ love, at this point - what wouldn't he do for Jaemin?

"It's what it is, though," said boy hums, getting comfortable against Jeno's body like he could melt then and there and still fit better than any shirt ever could.

They settle together, watching rather quietly as the movie goes on. Sometimes Jaemin gasps to the screen, but that's mostly because of vampire death scenes, and Jeno wonders if that's disturbing to him, in some way. Because of that, he starts to squeeze the flesh of Jaemin's thigh reassuringly every time there's an extremely violent scene towards vampires - which, to say the least, is nothing like Jeno with other people at all. But Jaemin is… Jaemin. It's hard to stay close and not find himself sinking into the way his skin feels, the way his eyes move, the creeks on his eyelids. It's really hard.

They end up watching it until the end, Jeno's ear in front of Jaemin's cold nose. He nuzzles on the back of the human's head, his entire face icy against Jeno's skin, and he shivers like he just ran naked through snow.

"Jesus Christ, you gotta stop doing that," he yelps, pulling his head forward as Jaemin playfully nips on the skin of his nape, right where this spine starts. Being a vampire has made him more affectionate than ever, clinging to Jeno at every chance he has, and he kinds of thinks it's not about the transition anymore.

Jaemin's reply comes in a sheepish yawn. "Sorry," the vampire says softly, like that one time his fangs got stuck on his bottom lip. "Your skin is just… So pretty,"

The moon watches them very quietly from the bedroom window. Jeno stares at her, lets the glowing whiteness fill his heart, and he wished - for once - that she'd blink. Really quickly, just a fraction of second, just like the way Jaemin blinks. Her skin shines and shines; Jeno wishes Jaemin knew his does too.

"Yours is pretty too," he whispers, letting Jaemin kiss and nibble on the back of his neck under their bedroom's yellow lights. The bed is a mess, and Jeno's feet are still cold, but he doesn't complain. In some certain way, he likes knowing Jaemin could spend hours just touching him. It's nice to have a skin worth landing on.

"Not really," his boyfriend's answer is small, muffled by Jeno's skin. "I don't think so."

"Why not?" Jeno's hand rests on Jaemin's naked knee, squeezing softly for emphasis. His hand is hot over his skin.

"Because…" the vampire sighs, snaking his arms around Jeno's torso and resting his cheek on his nape, the familiar scratch of fangs over his skin. "I don't know. I hate being… Dead."

"You're not dead," _you're the most alive thing I've ever known. Your skin is like carnival lights. Your entire being is a 3 hour opera. You're the biggest man on earth._ "You're just… pretty,"

Jaemin chuckles. "Am I just pretty? Is that what I am?"

"Yes." Jeno sucks in a breath, fully aware of how stupid he sounds. It's true, though, and when Jaemin laughs to himself, he feels more at ease. "Pretty."

"If you keep repeating it, the word will start to make less and less sense," the vampire says, nuzzling his cheek on Jeno's neck casually. He proceeds to whisper thoughtfully then: "Do you mean it?"

"Of course," the human yawns. "You're pretty. Pretty. Pretty. You're pretty pretty. You're right, it makes no sense when I repeat it."

Jaemin giggles, tightening his arms around Jeno. "Squishy, you are _so_ stupid."

"And you are _so_ pretty," he gasps offendedly, grabbing Jaemin's wrist for further emphasis. "You are so pretty. Why would you think anything different than that?"

"I guess I'm also kind of stupid." His boyfriend shrugs, letting his head fall on Jeno's neck again.

They stay like that for a while, until Jaemin's breathing evens out so much Jeno is left wondering if he fell asleep. And he did, indeed - when Jeno cranes his neck to look at him, there's a small pool of saliva on his shirt, and Jaemin's eyes are shut tightly. His entire face is soft, leaning against Jeno's back, and it's hard to not fall accomplice to his desire of lending his body for Jaemin to touch only. Jeno would've taken a piece of his own back for Jaemin sleep on it, were he given the chance. He would've brushed Jaemin's hair with his own ribs, would've let him use his teeth as daggers.

When he comes back to bed after brushing his teeth and turning off the lights, the feeling of love settles weirdly in the back of his stomach. Jeno might just throw up.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Jung Jaehyun is tall, handsome, has purple daydream inducing hair and dimples; Jeno thinks it's fairly okay of him to be jealous.

Okay. Perhaps not _jealous._ It's just weird - seeing such a good looking vampire doting over Jaemin like he's a delicate handkerchief he can fold to his jacket pocket. Jaehyun takes him everywhere, nowadays. He keeps a hand on Jaemin's small back when they're outside of a meeting, he oftenly brushes Jaemin's hair when he deems it unpresentable, and it's easy to see how fond he is. It's easy to see how anyone is fond of Jaemin, but it doesn't stop him from feeling… A bit lost about it.

They're waiting for an escort on the Coven's house, Jeno almost on Jaemin's lap with how close they're sitting. It's nice, the house. It's old, and has no signal or wifi, but it's a nice place to be in when you feel like being alone. Jaemin hates it, says it's lonely, but Jeno thinks he could live like that. He could.

"I just think that Jacob never really loved Bella and he kinda only loved the built-since-a-kid idea of her. He thought she was something to conquer and when she started acting like her own person, making the decisions she wanted to make, he freaked out and-" Jaemin blabbers, playing with the holes in Jeno's ripped jeans. "Hey, are you even _listening?"_

"Yes," Jeno laughs, lacing his arms around Jaemin's neck. They probably look ridiculously couple-y right now, and Jeno sort of wishes Jaehyun walked in on them. But for what? The dude could be straight. The dude is also probably a thousand years older than them. "I agree with you, but you've been on that topic for hours. I _get_ it, you hate Jacob."

"You should too! You should support all vampires, fictional or not!" The vampire whines petulantly, and Jeno wants to cry with how close they are. Jaemin lets his arms rest on Jeno's hips, and it feels like no one else has ever gotten this close before.

"Shut up," he tells him, holding his head to his chest. Jaemin's legs are bony and thin, but Jeno feels weirdly at home on top of them, which can only mean love.

“Make me,” Jaemin muses. Then he stops smiling, and slowly angles his lips to Jeno’s ear, nosing along his hair. “Wanna know something?”

“Yeah,” the human snorts, shivers running down his neck and the same healthy blush riding high on his cheekbones.

“I want to kiss you until you're all black and blue," he grazes the tip of his fangs on Jeno's neck, just enough to make him shiver once again. It's playful, to Jaemin, but he has no idea of how much Jeno thinks about the things he does. He has _no_ idea - and that's what makes it infuriating.

"Then maybe you should." Jeno teases back, because what could he do? Backing down isn't an option for a boy like him.

"I'm not doing it here, squishy." Tenderly as ever, Jaemin pokes Jeno's cheek with his fingertip, his other hand creeping up the human's sweater and leaving a trail of cold imprints behind. Those would last for days - Jeno knows he stinks of Jaemin, even if he's not able to smell it because of his non-vampireness. There's no need to, anyways; Renjun tells him all the time that he can never make out who's Jaemin and who's Jeno just by scent.

"Then don't tease." The human fake coughs, earning himself a light slap on his shoulder. That's another myth - vampires don't get super strong. Well, they _do,_ but it's something very easy to control. Jaemin never broke anything and he's never used his superhuman strength, even in times he truly could've.

Maybe it hurts too. Like tensioning a muscle so hard it might just burst once it's relaxed. Maybe Jaemin is scared he'll never stop using it once he starts.

"I'm not teasing, I'm merely saying my wishes as of right now." He buries his face in Jeno's neck, mouthing lazily at the skin. He should be shaken up by it, probably, but it's Jaemin; it feels more like a puppy bite.

Jeno smiles. "You're annoying."

"And you're squishy! I think we _all_ have nicknames!" his boyfriend argues, and it's right when Jeno is about to kiss him to shut him up that Renjun storms into the room, looking every bit the predator he is with angry features and golden fangs out.

Jeno could almost _smell_ poison. Jaemin seemed to smell it too, because he made himself smaller, hiding behind Jeno's shoulders like his human boyfriend had anything against the strongest vampire in South Korea. It boosts Jeno's ego considerably, and he lets Jaemin coward against him, watching Renjun quietly as the vampire walks holes on the ground.

None of them ask what happened. Perhaps from fear, perhaps from the wrong feeling in their guts.

Renjun just stands there, then, after walking in circles for what seemed like ten minutes straight. He looks - for lack of a better word - _pissed._

"Vampireling," he calls, eyes burning through Jeno so they could get to Jaemin's hunched figure, only his hair popping out through the human's shoulder. "Cowering doesn't look good on you."

 _But he's a baby,_ Jeno wants to protest. He wants to cradle Jaemin to himself, wants to wrap his arms around him so tight no space could lie in between for evil to get in.

"I-" Jaemin starts, getting impossibly closer to Jeno. "Your scent. Is terrible."

"Jesus, thank you," the older vampire huffs, sitting on the couch across the room. His clothes aren't fancy today - well, at least not as fancy as Renjun can be. He's in jeans, and even has a hoodie. His hair is a mess; Jeno wonders what could have gotten him out of bed this angry.

Wait. Does Renjun even _sleep?_

"No, seriously…" Jeno's boyfriend coughs a bit, and latches his nose to the human's skin, trying to focus on Jeno's own scent instead of the angry undertones in Renjun's. "It's so… It smells like allergies. And… Corpses."

The human between them makes a face, but Renjun just shrugs, unbothered. "It's because I'm in the mood to _make_ a corpse." He spreads his legs, resting his elbows on his knees. Renjun makes himself look much bigger than he actually is. "I came because they told me you'd be here. Your scent is calming. Every vampireling's is. But it fades when you're scared, so _stop_ that."

"Well, stop smelling like _death!_ " comes Jaemin's screeching answer.

Jeno has an idea of what they're talking about, but he can't possibly understand it. The only thing he smells is Jaemin's cologne, and even that is very limited.

Jaemin does calm down, though. His grip on Jeno loosens, and his shoulders relax, even if unwillingly. The human places a hand on top of his, and it's as if Jaemin's fear is deflating like a balloon - he can see it, in Renjun's face, when Jaemin's scent eases out. The older vampire's features visibly relax, eyes becoming soft.

"Oh, you've been growing so much," he comments under his breath. "It's almost like your actual scent is trying to take over. I can almost smell it. Almost."

"What is it like?" Jeno asks, because he truly can't control himself. He has no filter, and he's always curious; that's what Jaemin fell for, anyways.

"It's…" Renjun trails off. "Like… Uh. How do I explain it? Jaemin smells like garlic and onions being fried on a pan."

"That's very specific," Jaemin snorts. His palms are cold resting over Jeno's stomach, which is kind of ticklish, and suddenly he has to stop himself from laughing out loud.

"That's because it's just the start," the older vampire explains, black hair flopping as he comes forward. "It's probably going to develop to something entirely different. Right now you smell like baby powder. And warm milk. Because you're a bab-"

"A baby, yes, I _know,"_ the younger vampire grumbles. It's funny - Jaemin seems to have tired out from being babied, which Jeno thought never would happen.

Perhaps Jung Jaehyun has been spoiling him rotten.

Renjun's lips stretch into a smirk. "Jeno, why did your scent darken all of a sudden?"

_Shit._

"He probably just thought of Tony Stark's death scene, leave him alone-" Jaemin jumps to defend, protectively holding Jeno to himself.

"Hush, vampireling." The older vampire's fangs shine through his lips, golden and sharp. He looks so much older, then - even if he is, he never actually looks like it. It's only when there's a knowing glint in his eyes that Jeno remembers Renjun has seen much more than they have. "I know that spike of poison. It's jealousy."

_Shit. Shit. Shit. Fuck._

"Huh?" Jeno asks, dumbfounded.

"Is it Jung Jaehyun, perhaps?" Renjun asks, sympathetically if his lips weren't frozen on that smirk. "Doyoung? Taeyong? Who's been threatening you over your vampireling, Jeno?"

Jaemin's cold fingers squeeze against his hip under his shirt and coat, reassuring and demanding in ways only Jeno could fall for. It's stupid - Jaemin is easily the least intimidating person he could think of, and still. Jeno feels like caving, like telling, and the little part of his brain that manages stupid feelings burns with the possibility of being seen under light.

He clears his throat. "It's nothing."

But it is. Jeno is a terrible liar and Jaemin _knows._

Renjun doesn't need to, though. So he keeps his cool, leans back on Jaemin's chest, and prays for his thighs to swallow him away.

  
  
  


The matter is brought up again in their bed, morning sun burning against Jeno's skin as Jaemin presses him down on the mattress like he couldn't bear to be away, like he could just gorge himself in riches every time his skin meets Jeno's. It feels a lot like being buried - his lips touch his chin gently, fangs grazing his pores, and Jaemin's body covers his as if it was dust, as if he could swallow Jeno down entirely and keep him there; at the back of his gut, so full of love he wouldn't be able to eat.

"Who were you jealous of?" The vampire asks quietly, lazily letting his fingers travel down Jeno's arm. It's just cuddling, so why does he feel like he could just die there? Why does he feel like being turned into stone, so that his body could break and crack under Jaemin's during eternity?

What even was his body before Jaemin knew it as a body?

"It's none of your business," Jeno answers in a gasp, Jaemin's face pressing down on his Adam's apple as if it were a gutter. _And isn't it?_

There's a vampire. In his bed. And Jeno loves him so much he could just as easily die - which is possibly hilarious in how ironic it sounds.

"But it is, squishy." He blindly brings his fingertips to Jeno's face, studying his features like he hasn't felt them at least a thousand times before. "Come on, Jeno."

 _Come on, Jeno._ Three words that felt like being pulled from the earth, like being brought to life again. He answers to Jaemin so well; it's hard to tell if Jeno is the prey or the hunter.

"It's…" the human sighs loudly, tapping a song on Jaemin's lower back to gain himself some time. "Well."

"Well?" Jaemin urges, lifting his head up to stare at his face knowingly.

"Jung Jaehyun, dammit." Comes in a huff, lips closing themselves immediately after the words were spoken.

"Oh," he breathes out to Jeno's face as if blowing smoke of off a cigarette. His voice has a laughter undertone - the flutter of a hummingbird's wings, on Jeno's fingers like a bumpy road, and sunlight roars off over him. Jaemin's lips open, and gold drips from his guts; he laughs. Clear as day. "Ain't you my baby, Jeno?"

The human makes a sound from the back of his throat, and Jaemin laughs harder, melting against his body. It's not a grave anymore, then - it's a small bird, caged into Jeno's hands.

Gentle hands are still cages.

Jeno kind of likes locking him down.

"Jaehyun is like…" Jaemin chews on his lips thoughtfully. "At _least_ three hundred years old. You know that, right?"

"And?" Jeno asks defensively. "He dotes on you so much."

"And I dote on you twice as much," the vampire muses, cupping Jeno's cheeks. Staring at Jaemin from under him is an experience - he looks an ocean away. Jeno is surprised that he can just reach out and touch.

Jaemin's teeth are knives, his lips are covered in snow, his fingers sink and mark, but he leans in anyway. Sometimes, Jeno learned, all you can do to ground yourself is confirming you can _just_ reach out and touch.

Which he does very well, thank you. Kissing Jaemin is a pursued interest.

It's hard to stop once it starts. His lips tingle, tingle, tingle - this is what being alive feels like. This is all the bullshit human race has been talking about ever since the start of times, and it's infuriating how right they were. It's infuriating how Jeno feels the same love as Shakespeare, as Virginia Woolf, as Jesus Christ, hell, the same love as Clarice Lispector and Kim Jonghyun and Casanova and Sappho - all these people, they're the same. All humans feel the back of their insides twisting and turning, the thump of love poisoning even the healthiest livers.

When Jeno kisses Jaemin and brings him closer, hundreds of thousands of first kisses and falling in love's and tightly interlocked fingers go through him; like a kaleidoscope. History has lots of nameless lovers, and Jeno could make out all of them on the inside of Jaemin's cheek; in the graze of his fangs.

The sun sets longer on Jaemin's tongue. It just does.

"You're humming," he whispers to the vampire's lips. "You're actually humming. Are you that enamored?"

"Of course." The answer comes from deep within his throat, Jeno can tell. It's half flirt and half truth - as scary as can be. "I'm always enamored if it's you."

 _If it's you. If it's you. If it's you._ Do words burn the same when they're inside of you? Because Jeno can't tell anymore. Fire over fire is still fire.

_If._

_It's._

_You._

Who knew a sentence could be so much more than just a sentence.

"Shut up." But he grabs Jaemin's collar and brings him closer, anyways. What can one do?

What can one do, if not drink too much, smoke too much, eat too much, and love Jaemin so hard their hands become empty spaces for his fingers to occupy?

 

 

 

 

"Are you being pretty?" Jeno asks as Jaemin messily tries to paint his nails on their living room carpet, leaning on his elbow as glitter nail polish stands by his hand. The sun hits him from the porch, grazing on Jaemin's brown eyes like they could melt right then and there, all golden.

Jeno usually does Jaemin's nails for him - it's nothing much, just a sheer layer of shiny nail polish; but today it seems like he wanted to try something different, because the vampire only smiles and taps the carpet next to him, inviting Jeno to sit with him.

"Yes," he answers, grabbing Jeno's hand and inspecting the almost completely washed out nail polish on it. They happen to share the same preference on simpler, transparent designs.

The human laughs brightly, staring at Jaemin as the sun hit his back. "Can I watch?"

His boyfriend smiles, but doesn't answer. Instead, he proceeds to apply the glittery nail polish on him, focused on making it perfect as Jeno just does what he said he would: he watches. As Jaemin is being pretty.

When the light dusts his face, his cheeks and noses and lips, Jeno could see the entirety of his life swinging from them. He could see birthday parties, late night drinks, first hits to a cigarette and lots of kisses - too many to count. Jaemin's name is written all over his life, a polaroid glued to the walls of his history, and it's easy to get lost in that.

To himself, he thinks he'd do it all again. Live a hundred lives all over again - if it meant he'd have Jaemin in all of them.

 

 

 

 

 

It's obviously not the end of Jaemin's and Jaehyun's relationship after Jeno admits to be jealous of it - if anything, it's almost as if they got closer.

So there he stood, in the middle of Renjun's fancy mansion, a glass of champagne in his hand as Jaehyun half attempts to initiate conversation after Jaemin practically _begged_ them to be friends, both his hands resting on Jeno's and Jaehyun's arms.

It's… Bad. Jeno is socially awkward enough - and Jaehyun doesn't help with his looks. Not when he's tall, broad, ridiculously handsome and nice; everything Jeno has no idea how to deal with. At least if he had some unforgivable flaw that could lend him a place in Jeno's neverending club of weirdos… But he doesn't. It's like talking to the most popular boy in school and realizing you two would never have anything in common.

The vampire is in the middle of telling Jeno about his life back in Paris when his face instantly tenses, fangs seeping through his gums easily at the mere sense of danger. The entire atmosphere shifts: Jaehyun's otherwise gentle face darkens considerably, and Jeno wonders what could have possibly caused it - until he sees Renjun standing across the room, his face equally as angry.

It's a matter of time before they get closer in blind hatred, sizing each other as they spin around under the fancy chandelier. Jeno has never seen a vampire fight before, but he swears something inside of him cowers ridiculously against the hisses. It's like seeing two predators fight - no matter who wins, it feels like Jeno is still getting eaten.

He's not going to get eaten, of course. There are laws for that, and an entire moral code that banishes this kind of behavior; it's just that Jeno isn't the bravest person in the world. Neither is Jaemin, but he's nowhere to be seen - and that by itself flares the human's anxiety, hiding behind Donghyuck's smaller frame as the boy just stands there and frowns, a glass of champagne in his hand.

Renjun hisses first, approaching Jaehyun with extended hands like he's about to choke him, and the other vampire avoids it by simply spinning around. He smiles to Renjun, black fangs powering over golden ones, and Jeno gasps.

"What the fuck," he whispers to himself, Donghyuck's fancy smoking shielding his vision from the fight.

Renjun's husband chuckles rather quietly at Jeno's words. He looks calm; just a little bothered by Renjun taking all the attention from him on his own party. Which, as far as Jeno knows, is a really Donghyuck thing to be mad about.

They just size each other up for a moment, until Jaehyun launches himself on Renjun's neck in a second, fangs dripping the same obsidian, entrancing shine Jeno almost fell for a few days ago. They roll to the ground like two angry dogs, and the guests start to look disappointed at the lack of blood and heads rolling - in fact, Jeno is sure he saw Ten yawn from the other side of the room.

The human dances through the salon to where Johnny is standing, his glasses sitting weirdly at the top of his nose. What he knows about Johnny is that he's from a very rare specie; his senses are terribly attuned to the Earth and Jeno has no idea if there was a time in history Johnny wasn't alive to see. Whenever confronted about it by them, he usually says he's going to die with nature and everything belonging to the Earth - _whatever_ that means. He's the peacemaker, the one who stitches them together after fights, and Jeno is baffled at how he doesn't seem to move a finger to stop them from ripping apart each other's throats.

" _What the fuck_ is happening?" he yells to the vampire over the music, grabbing Johnny's arm to get his attention. He's the only vampire that's not entirely cold; his skin feels dry and oftenly paper thin, but never cold.

"They're fighting," Johnny states the obvious, his suspenders making him look as antiquated as can be. "For dominance. Where is the vampireling?"

"I don't know," the human answers, waving his hands. "I have no idea where he is. I'm worried."

"He should be here to calm them down," the vampire frowns, scanning the room. "With his scent."

"But what if he gets hu-" he's about to bite back when Jaemin bursts through the door with huge, round eyes, his Victorian dress shirt making him look at least two times older. His sleeves are puffy and his shirt is tucked in his pants, smoking hanging from his arm.

His presence seems to make every vampire in the room get smaller in shame, even Doyoung averting his eyes from the scene as he downs his glass of what Jeno assumes is a thousand years old Chardonnay. Johnny studies the floor awkwardly, and Renjun and Jaehyun stare at each other with something terribly close to… Jeno can't even name it. They look shameful; and at the same time like they just might kill each other.

Jaemin takes a step closer, then another, then another, until he's standing between them. He looks scared, Jeno can see it even sooner than the vampires can smell it. His lips tremble, his hands fit in his pockets, and he's doing that thing he does when he desperately needs to find Jeno in a crowd.

When they lock gazes, Jaemin gulps down, his eyes questioning. _Are you okay?_

All eyes are on him. Jeno wonders if it's because he's the youngest; ifit's because he's the closest to Renjun and Jaehyun.

 _Yes,_ Jeno nods. It feels much more than just a nod, because when he blinks again, Jaemin is already helping Renjun off the ground, the other vampires seemingly snapping out of it and rushing to crowd around them to check for serious injuries.

That way, it's easy to see how Jaemin belongs to them as much as he belongs to Jeno. People pat his back and apologize for the scene, and he can even make out Taeyong pulling him into a hug, gently rocking Jaemin side to side like a baby. Renjun goes straight to Donghyuck, half limping, and his husband helps him upstairs, disappearing from the ballroom.

The crowd disperses after a while, and Johnny patches up Jaehyun's wounds with an easy going smile on his lips, the two of them chit chatting over the first aid kit as if he weren't on a fight at least ten minutes ago. There's no tension, and Jeno remembers what Jaemin told him before - it's _dominance._ It's not personal.

The vampires aren't ashamed because they're fighting. They're ashamed because their youngest had to see it.

Jaemin approaches him with a sheepish smile, holding Jeno by his hips like he needed that to steady himself. "Hi," he draws out carefully.

"Hi," the human places both hands on his cheeks, relieved to the brim that he's okay and safe. That's all he wants, truly - for Jaemin to be safe.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Jaemin lazily whispers to his side, kissing Jeno's palm apologetically. How can Jeno _not_ forgive him? "It's… It's common. I swear it's not as bad as it seems."

"You stopped it," Jeno comments under his breath, in awe. "They saw you and they stopped."

"Yeah, vampires…" he shakes his head, shy. "They're territorial but… The Coven is above everything. Fighting in front of the youngest is frowned upon."

"You're so powerful," comes from his lips like a prayer. Jeno watches as Jaemin's eyes are filled with wonder, his ego flaring up. "For a baby."

"You know I'll take that any day any time," the vampire whispers, kissing Jeno's face all over. "I just want to get drunk off my ass with you and make out in the bathroom."

"What if your vampire relatives find us, though?" Jeno asks in laughter as Jaemin kisses down his neck. "Would they get angry at me for touching their baby?"

His voice is muffled by Jeno's neck when he answers. "Most definitely." the human shivers at the graze of fangs on his skin. "But I was your baby before I was theirs, wasn't I?"

"Maybe," he muses, scratching up and down Jaemin's nape. "Maybe you were."

"I'll take that." Jaemin giggles.

Needless to say, they indeed got drunk and made out in the bathroom - and they _did_ get caught by a baffled Doyoung, who proceeded to lecture Jeno on how to be careful with vampirelings while Jaemin laughed his ass off.

Perhaps he belongs to Jeno a little bit more than he belongs to the vampires. But no one needs to know what.

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading this series i promise u the next fic from this universe ill post will b more plot + renhyuck! i just wanted to write a little cute thing for nomin in jenos pov because i love him and you should too!
> 
> (also if anyones interested in reading abt the vampire species nd their ecosystem please let me know in the comments! ill write and share the notes i made abt them and all species documented up until now)
> 
> goodbye for now fangbangers all around the world
> 
>  
> 
> [twt](https://www.twitter.com/eboyjen)


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